Foy returns with new research group

by SIMON FORSYTH

     ROBIN FOY, one of the founders of the Scole Experimental Group, is one of the names behind a new research organisation which has been launched.

I.S.A.R.T.O.P. - the International Scientific Association (for) Research (into) Transcendental Objective Phenomena has been formed "to bring about a measurable improvement in international understanding and human relations, through the promotion of universal harmony, together with the sharing of knowledge and scientific transcendental research on a fully worldwide basis", Foy explained.

In a statement, he said:

"Many of you will already know me, or have heard of my 32 years experience in Scientific Psychic Research, gained through a myriad of sittings with mediums and the many research groups set up and run by my wife and I over the years. Also - in particular - through my co-founding and running (for four years) the ISM Link of home circles; my personal founding of the Noah's Ark Society; my co-founding and major participation in the Scole Experimental Group, together with the work of the New Spiritual Science Foundation, which the Scole Group set up; through the books The Scole Experiment and The Scole Report and through my book In Pursuit of Physical Mediumship. I have also had some experience in recent years of working with electronic medicine (within the Electronic Medicine Association), and have been a fully qualified healer for more than 30 years.

"I.S.A.R.T.O.P. (which is a logical continuation of the humanitarian project started by Emanuel Toriello in 1989) has been inaugurated through a series of meetings and escalating 'coincidences' that came to a head in May of last year when (on a particular day), I had an unexplained feeling that I needed to get home early from work. Arriving at about 4pm., I discovered a large group of Italian people on my doorstep, about to knock on the door. Since Sandra - my wife - was still in bed (she works nights), I suggested that we all went next door to the Scole Inn for a coffee and a chat.

"Although the visitors were all strangers, they were very friendly and seemed to know a lot about the well-known six-year long 'Scole Experiment' in which I participated, and which achieved amazing results. I discovered that the party included the elderly Marcello Bacci and his wife, and that he is a veteran researcher in EVP and DRV (his speciality, since he has been getting these Direct Radio Voices for many years through an old fashioned valve radio at his centre in Grosseto, Italy). Bacci demonstrates these voices weekly to around 70 or 80 people (mostly bereaved mothers, who are often able to speak to their 'dead' children) without ever charging a penny for his work.

"For some time prior to this visit, the voices in Italy had been requesting that Bacci and his research friends travel to Scole to see us, and this is why they had travelled over to the U.K.

"At this first meeting, which was also attended by Emanuel Toriello, Alessandro Zampieri and Amerigo Festa - amongst others - with their wives, somebody asked me for a business card. I put my hand into my pocket and, as I took the card out, three apports fell off my hand, having materialised on it in full light! At that point, I started to take the meeting more seriously, and listen more carefully to what they had to say.

"Sandra and I were invited out to Italy as a result. We flew out there in September and were greatly impressed by the people at Bacci's centre (his close research group included) and by the impressive voices we witnessed, communicating through his radio.

"Many of the italian contingent have now become firm friends, and I re-visited Bacci at Grosseto in Italy during early December. Also there were Paolo Presi the researcher, Professor David Fontana (one of the main investigators of the Scole Experiment and co-author of 'The Scole Report') and Dr Anabela Cardoso, a major EVP/DRV researcher and the Portuguese Consul in Vigo, Spain.

"Through my new Italian friends (in particular, one of these - Emanuel Toriello - who is currently based in the UK and suggested that his long-running project could form the ideal basis for such an organisation) together with a number of serious researchers all over the world, the idea gradually came together to incorporate into Emanuel's project a fully international association that can co-operate with researchers and active experimenters internationally, helping one another in every aspect of development and demonstration of the various phenomena (sharing - in a word) and acting as a forum for discussion and education regarding the latest and most successful techniques of research.

"It is hoped that - eventually - the organisation may even be able to help with the limited funding of deserving research projects.

"I have been personally asked by Emanuel Toriello to help in the co-ordination and administration of I.S.A.R.T.O.P. because of my long-term experience of all types of transcendental phenomena, plus the international contacts I have made over the years of my research involvement.

"It is anticipated that the organisation will receive some funding from certain high-profile international bodies, which will help it to improve collaboration between researchers and establish better human relations in the field of scientific transcendental research so, in order to project the correct professional image, it was deemed important to keep the title of the organisation on a scientific level, and to go about the running of the association in a highly professional and thorough manner.

"As a first step - a number of key international researchers and contacts attended two meetings at the St. Giles Hotel, London W1 on Sunday, February 6th, to ratify the name and discuss the setup of the organisation. The morning meeting consisted mainly of delegates who were serious EVP/ITC/DRV researchers and experimenters, with the separate afternoon meeting being attended by delegates whose interest lay mainly with objective physical psychic phenomena.

"Amongst the morning delegates were: Professor David Fontana; Dr Anabela Cardoso; John & Maryse Locke from Paris; Dr Hans Schaer from Switzerland; Tina Laurent from Wales; James & Shirley Webster; Chris Pettit; Lewis Elbinger; Marcello and Marina Bacci; Emanuel Toriello; Alex and Maria Zampieri; Amerigo and Rosella Festa - and Robin and Sandra Foy.

"There will be an announcement in the near future of the key personnel and their roles within the association. Once the infrastructure of the organisation is in place, membership details and invitations will be published. It is anticipated that the first full and public meeting of the association will take place in May or June of this year, so we are currently compiling a list of interested researchers and members of the public for our mailing list.

"The I.S.A.R.T.O.P. organisation will be structured as a number of departments working in parallel with one another, each dealing with their own speciality. For instance, there will be an extensive ITC/EVP and DRV department; a department for physical transcendental (or psychic) phenomena; perhaps one for trance work; another for crop circles; departments dealing with healing, electronic medicine, dowsing - and perhaps even one department dealing with UFO's. Experience has taught us that all of these - in any case - are inexorably linked.

"It is hoped that there will eventually be two full-time administrator/co-ordinaters, and other experts available to handle all aspects of members questions. There will be a major website - operating as a portal through which members can access their particular area of interest. It is anticipated that various educational and self-help instructional booklets covering all aspects of scientific research into this subject will be compiled and available for members to help them develop their own research projects and phenomena.

"Members will receive a regular magazine (possibly quarterly initially), and possibly research reports as a means of sharing knowledge and encouraging further development; this being something that has not really and successfully been achieved before on such an ambitious and fully international scale.

"A documentary is planned on the work of several prominent researchers, and it is anticipated that regular conferences, seminars and social functions will take place, along with demonstrations of members research work. Naturally, such events will include lectures and workshops by acknowledged experts in their own fields."
Those interested in receiving further details of this exiting project are requested to email their name and address to Robin Foy at saro@supanet.com or by phoning after 6pm on weekdays, or at weekends: 01379 741945."